Things have changed dramatically in the past three days. Slap Shots has learned the Rangers have told Mats Zuccarello they will seek to trade him before Monday’s deadline and have begun to aggressively shop the impending-free-agent, first-line right wing after a breakdown in contract talks between the parties.
Sources report the gap between the Blueshirts and Zuccarello’s representatives has become a chasm management now perceives as impossible to bridge between the end of the season and the July 1 opening of the free-agent market.
It is believed the Rangers have offered Zuccarello a five- or six-year deal worth $4.5 million per, while the winger is seeking well in excess of $5 million per, perhaps up to $5.5 million. Zuccarello may be able to clear the $5 million bar as an unrestricted free agent — or may be able to get the equivalent from a team in a no-tax state, such as Florida — but it is clear he is not going to get that to remain in New York.
And so, general manager Glen Sather has, over the past three days, circulated the word his Stanley Cup-contending team is willing to deal a player off its first line rather than to simply allow him to complete his contract — the deal is, after all, for one year that includes the playoffs, not for the first 146 days of the regular-season — and help the team in its quest.
Did the San Francisco Giants rush to trade pending-free-agent Pablo Sandoval at last year’s deadline, or did they keep the Panda for their third World Series championship in five seasons before losing him to the Red Sox as a free agent over the winter? (If the Rangers win the Cup, it would be their third championship in 75 seasons.)
Look, Zuccarello has not had a $5 million season, not even close to it. He hadn’t scored a power-play goal all year heading into Saturday night in Philadelphia, chipping in five assists, even as No. 36 has gotten the fifth most ice time on the man-advantage among club forwards.
But he fits well on the first line with Rick Nash and Derek Brassard, and he fits well within a room that has a special kind of chemistry going that can’t be measured on any analytics table.
So Sather has to thread the needle here if he’s going to improve this year’s team at the expense of seeing Zuccarello flee for free at the conclusion of the playoffs. The GM essentially has to get a top-six winger who, if a rental, would fit into this year’s scant cap space, and who, if on an extended contract, would also have to fit into next season’s projected scant cap space.
Sources report the Rangers never once inquired about the Maple Leafs’ Tyler Bozak, but Toronto, anxious to move the 28-year-old center’s contract that has three years remaining at $4.2 million, have come knocking Sather’s door a number of times offering their No. 42 as a goodie too good to resist.
If the Rangers think Bozak could shift to a top-six spot on the wing, or Kevin Hayes could move up while Bozak centers the third line, then perhaps a Zuccarello-plus deal gets that done (as long as the pluses don’t add up to an organizational minus), with the Leafs then able to flip the Norwegian for a pick or two.
Again. The Rangers wanted to keep Zuccarello. They still do. But they appear to have now reached the conclusion they will be unable to sign him. And so they have put out the word: Their top-line right wing is available.
When Sather traded Ryan Callahan last year, the then-captain had become a third-line winger. And in dealing him to the Lightning, the Blueshirts acquired a top-six winger and proven big-time goal-scorer in Martin St. Louis. Putting the draft-picks issue aside, the Rangers on paper filled a need without creating a substantial hole in personnel the way it was administered by Vigneault.
This year, it’s trickier. Zuccarello is a key player. Sather needs to thread the needle. At the end of the day — or by 3 p.m. Monday — the 2014-15 Rangers are probably better served if the Panda, sorry, the Hobbit, is still a Ranger.
And maybe the focus up to the deadline should be on that third pair on defense and not so much on fixing something that doesn’t appear to be broken.
We’re told the Rangers’ prospects who have provoked the most interest on the market are Oscar Lindberg, the 23-year-old center who made his NHL debut against the Flames on Tuesday, and Igor Shesterkin, the 19-year-old goaltender selected 118th overall last year and who played this year for St. Petersburg of the KHL.
The Blueshirts will try to get Pavel Buchnevich, whose KHL club did not make the playoffs, over to North America to join the AHL Wolf Pack either on a PTO or by signing the 19-year-old winger to a contract. Buchnevich’s contract with Cherepovets Severstal is believed to have expired.
So the old adage, “If Wayne Gretzky was traded, anyone can be traded,” should be replaced by, “If Scott Gomez and David Clarkson were traded …”
The Maple Leafs essentially cleared $10.5 million in cap space by dealing Clarkson to Columbus for Nathan Horton — Clarkson’s $5.5 million they shed plus Horton’s $5 million they will be able to replace when and if the club hits the upper limit and places the incapacitiated winger on LTI.
The Leafs finally have a management that is willing to take advantage of its financial might.
Oh, and the best thing for Horton is that the NHL has a job waiting for him when he goes on LTI.
Finally, a personal note, if you please: Our family lost our Matriarch this week with the passing of Phyllis Schwebel Simon, beloved mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and great grandmother.
We lost our Beliveau.